Ong Pat Temple Project

[Big Boy]

My wife went to a local Buddhist surgery in Swindon yesterday. In the same way as a Catholic priest may hand out Hail Marys, the monk in attendance was handing out Ong Pats.

From what I can gather, somebody in Thailand has decided it would be fitting to build a temple adorned by 1,000,000 solid gold Buddha images. These 1,000,000 images (costing about £330 each) will be donated (mainly by Farangs from what I can gather).

So when I say the monk was handing out Ong Pats (spelling probably totally wrong), he was telling members of his congregation how many they should purchase (yesterday it ranged between 1 and 6). Personally, I've told my wife she's having a laugh if she thinks we're going to buy solid gold Buddha images for a temple 6,000 miles away. However, we know the ploy is working - we know one lady who has recently given her 35 Baht of gold jewellery to this temple.

As I'd never heard of this project before, and I can't find anything about it on Google (probably because of my spelling), I thought I would ask if anybody on this forum knows anything about this project, and its legitimacy. Any information at all would be appreciated.

It sounds like very easy money, possibly a scam to me.

[Spitfire]

Hi Big Boy,

Hmmm, could be a scam, but in your post there is no mention of where this temple is supposed to be in Thailand. An answer to that would be a good start. Even if they were making a temple of such nature then I can see it lasting about two minutes unless it was being guarded by a battalion of army rangers.

I agree with your stance of "You're having a laugh".

Well, that question of where it is/will supposed to be would be the "leveller" in this one. Then some research could be made and the truth reveal itself.

[Big Boy]

I've checked with Mrs BB, and she says the temple is in Ayutthaya - well placed for the Burmese to raid?

[Spitfire]

Ha ha, if it does exist or will exist, hide it among the other 1000 major temples in Ayutthaya, how predictable.

Don't have to worry about the Burmese, it's the locals I'd be worried about. The Burmese have done it too many times already. There used to be a 16-17ft high buddha covered in solid gold in the 17th century in Ayutthaya until the Burmese got there and smelted it down and swiped it back to Burma.

Seriously, had a look on Google and you'll be hard pressed to find it unless you actually have the name, might be interesting if Mrs BB knows that, ask Mrs Spitfire and she said she'd not heard anything on that one, so, I suppose, it could easily appear as somewhat suspect, if not, then they've got some nerve going to a foriegn country to get westerners to pay for it when the temples and monk fraternity have more money than the government, . Sorry, being cynical, might be proved wrong.

Seems odd, never heard of this before.

[Big Boy]

I've been looking through their magazine, and they're also doing this in Manchester, Germany and Switzerland.

On the bottom of most pages in the magazine are details of how to donate money direct to a bank - one of the few bits in the magazine in English.

Mrs BB sats that she will be able to provide me with temple's name on 5 April; so if nobody has any more information by then, I will post the it.

[hhfarang]

I think these are probably fake monks who are really undercover representatives of the U.S. Treasury Department...

[kendo]

Big Boy,
In there magazine is there any sign of a registerd charity number, if not i think they could be breaking the law collecting like a charity.

It seems very ominous to me, maybe ask your good lady to phone your favorit temple in Birmingham and ask about the lagitimacy of this so called fund rasing.

Kendo.

[Big Boy]

The Temple where this legacy for future Thai generations is being created in Wat Patoum Thani.

[PeteC]

The Temple where this legacy for future Thai generations is being created in Wat Patoum Thani.

Just think what 330 pounds x 1 million would do to eradicate poverty here. As well as give thousands of disadvantaged teenagers a full 4 year university education. Talk about misdirected good intentions and misguided logic. Pete

[baron_wastelanduk]

slightly off topic but nevertheless kinda relevant they are building a new temple in wanstead east london the name i forget - they are issuing kind of share certificates of which there have been 9999 issued with so far almost a 1000 accounted for!
i think they are hoping to raise some 4 million pounds to fund the building
we regularly get the begging letters at the pub

[Sabai Jai]

It is unfortunate that modern Thai Buddhism focuses mainly on the pratice of 'Merit Making' which to the best of my knowledge scarcely features in the Buddhas teaching.

Obviously 'Loads of Money' is quite an attractive prospect to the instigators of such schemes but Wisdom and Compassion, the pillars of Buddhism seem to elude them.

I think Randycornhol posted a picture a few weeks ago of a Wat made entirley out of empty beer bottles - now there is something we could all contribute to!

SJ

[John HH]

My wife went to a local Buddhist surgery in Swindon yesterday. In the same way as a Catholic priest may hand out Hail Marys, the monk in attendance was handing out Ong Pats.

.

Has it got anything to do with Tony Jaa?

[Big Boy]

An update on this - Mrs BB has just put a VCD on showing the building of the temple. The actual name is Wat Tamagai - now I've got the real name, Google produces plenty of results. It does seem to be genuine.





The golden top of this temple is made of the little Buddha images stacked on top of each other - construction similar to the bottle temple posted recently.

For anybody with £330 to spare, apparently 22 Apr 09 is the last date you can buy one of those little Buddhas

[PeteC]

Ow, different deal then. I thought they were collecting in order to build it. What they're doing is selling it and collecting for a second time. Will they reimburse something to those who donated originally? Pete

[hhfarang]

It looks like the space ship from the original 50's version of "The Day the Earth Stood Still"!